Male underwear garment

ABSTRACT

A male underwear garment having an inner portion constructed as a brief with leg openings, a waist opening and an operable fly is attached at the waist opening to the waist opening of an outer portion constructed as a boxer short with leg openings, a waist opening and an operable fly so that the operable flies are aligned.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

Applicant claims the benefit of provisional application U.S. Ser. No.60/812,436 filed Jun. 9, 2006 for men's underwear.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to improvements in men'sunderwear and more particularly, pertains to new and improved maleboxer-short underwear.

2. Description of Related Art

In the field of men's underwear, it has been the practice to employ oneof three designs, briefs, boxer shorts or a hybrid boxer brief. Each oneof these styles are extensively used and serve their purpose. Althoughthe briefs provide the support sought by some men, the appearance can beless than satisfactory. The boxer shorts, provide a much betterappearance but without the support of a brief. The hybrid boxer briefsprovide support, but are long and tight in the leg, once again, beingless than adequate in appearance.

Attempts have been made to overcome these shortcomings, such as in U.S.Pat. No. 5,379,462 granted Jan. 10, 1995 for male pant-type garmentswith internal suspensory support structure. This patent describes a“genitor-supportive structure” built into a boxer short.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The general purpose of the present invention is to provide a man'sunderwear garment that has the advantages of both a boxer short and abrief in a single garment, providing the appearance of a boxer short andthe full support of a brief. This is accomplished by having an outerportion constructed as a boxer short with conventional leg openings, awaist opening and an operable fly with overlapping flaps. An innerportion constructed as a brief having conventional leg openings, a waistopening and an operable fly with overlapping flaps is located inside theouter portion. The inner portion and outer portion are attached at therespect waist openings so that the respective operable flies arealigned.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The exact nature of this invention, as well as the objects andadvantages thereof, will become readily apparent from consideration ofthe following specification in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which like reference numerals designate like partsthroughout the figures thereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a male underwear garment according tothe present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front exploded view of the garment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view in partial section showing the garment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a cross section of the garment of FIG. 4 taken along lines4-4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a man's underwear garment 100 according to thepresent invention, showing how an inner brief 200 is integrated with anouter boxer short 250. The inner brief 200 and outer boxer short 250 arefastened at the waistband. The preferred fastening method is lining upthe brief waist hem 220 (FIG. 2) with the boxer short waist hem 272,using a ¾″ turn down and setting a ¾″ width elastic waistband 106inside. A single needle stitch is used to sew the top and bottom edges108 and 110 of the elastic waistband 106 to both the brief waist hem 220and boxer short waist hem 272. In a preferred embodiment, the brief flyflaps 214 and 216 and the boxer short fly flaps 266 and 268 are joinedby seams 112 and 114. Alternatively, brief fly and the boxer short flymay be left unconnected, but aligned, in order to better hide theexistence of the briefs.

FIG. 2 shows the inner brief 200 before it is integrated into the boxershort 200. The brief will typically be made out of cotton. But othertypes of fabric such as polyester/microfiber blends are alsocontemplated. The inner brief is composed of a top piece 202 and abottom piece 204, sewn together in the front with a seam 206 and in theback with a seam 208, with a five thread reverse cover stitch. The leftand right thigh hems 210 and 212 are sewn with a ⅛″ double needle coverstitch, with a ⅜″ single fold binding, using a shoulder tape machine tocover the seam. The fly has a left fly flap 214 overlaying a right flyflap 216. The left flap 214 has a hem 218.

FIG. 2 also shows an outer boxer short 250 before it is integrated withthe brief 200 to form the male underwear garment 100. The boxer shortsare preferably made out of cotton, a cotton/polyester blend, silk, orany other similar fabric. The boxer short 250 has both a left legcomponent 252 and a right leg component 254. The left and right legcomponents 252 and 254 are sewn together in the front and back by a seam256. The left bottom leg hem 258 and right bottom leg hem 260 are sewnwith a ¾″ double turn in, single needle stitch for a clean finish. Theleft inseam 262 and right inseam 264 are sewn together with a ½″ seam,with a four thread topstitch ¼″ apart. The fly is made of a left flyflap 266 overlaying a right fly flap 268. The overlaying left fly flap266 has a hem 270. A waist hem 272 has a ¾″ turn in, with a singleneedle cover stitch at the top edge, then another single needle stitch¾″ down.

FIG. 3 shows the front of the male underwear garment 100, with the leftside cut-away to show the position of the inner brief 200.

FIG. 4 shows a cross section of the male underwear garment 100 of FIG. 4along line 4-4, looking in the direction of across, providing a sideview of the brief thigh component and its relative position inside theouter boxer short 250.

The male underwear garment of the present invention provides theadvantages of a boxer short and a brief in a single garment. It has theappearance of a boxer short and the support of a brief. Many men preferthe appearance of a boxer short over a brief even though they wearbriefs. Many men wear a brief because they prefer the support providedby a brief to the depending male body portion.

The underwear of the present invention provides the support and feel ofa typical brief while looking like a boxer short. A user simply placeshis legs through the left and right leg components 102 and 104 and pullsthe underwear up until the elastic waistband 106 is around his waist.

This is a surprising and unexpected result. The male underwear garmentof the present invention is an improvement over male pant-type garmentshaving a built-in genitor-supportive structure as shown in U.S. Pat. No.5,379,462, and even an improvement over simply wearing a briefunderneath the pair of boxer shorts.

The present invention provides a male undergarment that reduces theamount of laundry, prevents the boxer shorts from shifting andcontorting into awkward positions while being worn, and keeps the boxershorts and briefs correctly aligned, so that both flies remainimmediately aligned and accessible.

Preferably, the fly for the boxer short and the brief are sewn together,so that the two function as one. Alternatively, the boxer short fly andthe brief fly are not attached, but only aligned, in order to betterconceal the presence of the briefs.

Boxer briefs are an existing hybrid of boxer shorts and briefs. Likeboxer shorts, boxer briefs cover part of the leg. Like briefs, boxerbriefs provide support for the male depending body portion. However,unlike boxer shorts, boxer briefs are tight in the leg region, snuglyhugging the leg. Moreover, the overall appearance is still that of abrief with legs.

The male underwear garment of the present invention is an improvementover boxer briefs because it provides the appearance of a boxer shortwith the full support of a brief, and is readily available in differentcolors, patterns, and fabrics.

The male underwear garment of the present invention is an improvementover briefs because many men prefer the look of boxer shorts, whichextend down the leg, are loose in the leg, and are available in avariety of colors and patterns. Briefs, on the other hand, are morerevealing, tight, and usually made of plain white cotton. Some men findit fashionable to wear their pants in a manner that exposes theirmulticolored underwear in the posterior region. Briefs also have thenegative stigma of being known as “tighty whities.”

The male underwear garment of the present invention is an improvementover boxer shorts because many men seek the full support provided bybriefs over the lack of support provided by boxer shorts. Briefs keepthe male depending body portions in a relatively controlled position.Moreover, the double garment construction of the male underwear garmentof the present invention will absorb any accidental leakage that mayoccur.

The male underwear garment of the present invention is an improvementover the male pant-type garment of U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,462 because itprovides the full support of a brief, rather than just a loose fittingsuspensory support for depending male body portions. Men who prefer thefull support of a brief but do not like its look, will not switch to thepant-type garment of U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,462. The full support providedby a brief is missing. However, they will switch to the male underweargarment of the present invention which provides the full support of abrief.

1. A male underwear garment, comprising: an outer portion constructed asa boxer short having conventional leg openings, a waist opening and anoperable fly with overlapping flaps; and an inner portion constructed asa brief having conventional leg openings, a waist opening and anoperable fly with overlapping flaps; whereby the inner portion and outerportion are attached at the respective waist openings so that therespective operable flies are aligned.
 2. The male underwear garment ofclaim 1 wherein the overlapping flaps of the operable fly of the innerportion are attached to the overlapping flaps of the operable fly of theouter portion.
 3. The male underwear garment of claim 1 wherein thebrief has a waist hem and the boxer short has a waist hem, both waisthems being aligned so that the respective flies are aligned; and furthercomprising an elastic waist band of predetermined width on the inside ofthe brief waist hem; both hems being turned down creating a single hemwith a top and bottom, the hem being stitched to the elastic waist bandand the brief and short at the waist openings.
 4. The male underweargarment of claim 3 wherein the overlapping flaps of the operable fly ofthe brief are stitched to the overlapping flaps of the operable fly ofthe short.
 5. The male underwear garment of claim 4 wherein thepredetermined width of the elastic waist band is about three-quarters ofan inch.
 6. The male underwear garment of claim 5 wherein the waist hemof the brief and the waist hem of the short are turned down aboutthree-quarters of an inch.
 7. The male underwear garment of claim 6wherein the stitching for the turned-down hem is single needle at thetop and bottom edges of the turned-down single hem.
 8. The maleunderwear garment of claim 7 wherein the boxer short has a left bottomleg hem at a left leg opening and a right bottom leg hem, at the rightleg opening, each leg hem being sewn by a single stitch.
 9. The maleunderwear garment of claim 8 wherein the left bottom leg hem and rightbottom leg hem are about three-quarters of an inch wide and have adouble turn in.
 10. The male underwear garment of claim 9 wherein thebrief leg openings have a three-eighth inch single fold hem sewn with aone-eighth double needle cover stitch.